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Steve Oelrich camp misrepresents history in attack on Cliff Stearns, then quietly rewrites it

This late July mailer by U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns calls out his three Republican primary opponents for the 3rd Congressional District for not serving in the military. Steve Oelrich's campaign responded publicly by saying their man was made ineligible for service because of an accident suffered while he was a cop .. a story it later changed, without telling anyone, because it was wrong.

This is the first release from the Steve Oelrich camp, sent to media on July 26, saying that U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns was not respecting a wound Oelrich suffered while he was a law enforcement officer.

This is the rewritten release, not sent to the media but carrying the same July 26 date, which makes no mention of military service.

Cliff Stearns

Steve Oelrich

Steve Oelrich was appalled at a mailer sent by his opponent, Cliff Stearns.

In it, the 12-term incumbent rapped his three Republican opponents for the new 3rd Congressional District for not serving in the military. Stearns served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War.

Oelrich’s camp pounced, and in doing so broke what is widely seen as a steadfast election rule: “If you’re reacting, you’re losing.”

His campaign blasted out an email statement on July 26 saying Stearns was off base. Oelrich, it said, was stabbed in the heart as a beat cop in St. Petersburg, which made him ineligible for military service.

“To see a candidate exploit my father’s injuries due to his service in law enforcement is a dishonorable act by anyone who claims to understand veterans, especially those who were injured in the line of duty,” Oelrich’s son, Ken, a Marine sergeant and combat veteran, was quoted as saying.

The problem? The campaign got it wrong, and — very quietly — later changed its tune.

On his 1968 application for the Florida Bureau of Law Enforcement, first published on conservative blog Sunshine State Sarah, Oelrich listed a self-inflicted gunshot wound suffered during a hunting accident when he was 18, before his career began, as derailing his ability to serve in the military. He was classified as only eligible for the military in times “war or national emergency.” Vietnam was never a declared war.

In an interview with the Times-Union, Oelrich confirmed it was the gunshot wound, not the later stabbing, as the reason.

“I got the draft card in the mail and went to Jacksonville … when I got there and they saw my injury, they said, ‘We can’t have you in the field,’ ” Oelrich said.

He would not address the statement his campaign released, instead referring questions to campaign consultant David Wolfson, who did not return requests seeking comment.

Behind the scenes, the campaign switched stories.

The original July 26 statement on Oelrich’s campaign website has been scrubbed of any mention of military service. Instead, using the same date and the same headline, it now says “Stearns is attacking Oelrich’s service in law enforcement.”

How, it doesn’t specifiy. And the rewritten release was not emailed.

Before becoming a state senator in 2006, Oelrich had served as Alachua County Sheriff since 1992.

The Stearns’ mailer also was critical of his opponents’ experience and “business philosophy.”

He has used his deep war chest to run a two-front campaign. He has run a positive television commercial while sending mailers attacking his opponents. Stearns says the mailers can’t be cast as negative because they are issue-based.

“I’ve consistently focused on my opponents’ records, and there is nothing wrong with that,” he said.

Oelrich and Clay County Clerk James Jett also also taken their shots. Each has blasted Stearns as a career politician who broke a term-limit pledge he made early in his career. Ted Yoho, a Gainesville veterinarian and the only candidate who has never held elected office, has cast all three as career politicians “like pigs feeding at the trough.”